Turnstile junction for producing circularly polarized waves



Aug. 17, 1954 R. H. DICKE 2,636,901

TURNSTILE JUNCTION FOR PRODUCING CIRCULARLY POLARIZED WAVES F iled Nov. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 POWER P I NClDENT IN ROUND GUIDE THE ROUND GUIDE 'NVENTQR ROBERT H. DICKE BYQMLM ATTORN EY Aug. 17, 1954 TURNSTILE JUNCTION FOR PRODUCING CIRCULARLY POLARIZED WAVES Fil ed Nov. 5, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ll? BYQMLW{ ATTORNEY R. H. blcxs 2,686,901

Patented Aug. 17, 1954 'IUB-NS'IILE JUNCTION FOR PRODUCING CIRCULARLY POLARIZED WAVES Robert H. Dicks, Cambridge, Mass, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy Application November 5, 1945, serial No. 626,843

4 Claims.

This invention relates to junctions of hollow wave guides, and to the means of matchingsuch junctions. It relates in particular to hollow wave guide junctions which are used to divide the radio frequency power transmitted by the junction, or to vary the polarization of the trans mitted wave.

Wave guide junctions and sections have been used previously for power division and for changing polarization, but it has been necessary to design a wave guide junction, orsect-ion, for each such application. In junctions so used, thevariou's factors, such as the ratio in which the power is divided between the branches of the junction, or the plane of polarization of the transmitted wave, were fixed by the design and unalterable in use.

- Accordingly, it is the object of this invention to provide a junction of hollow wave guides which will present. a matched load to energy incident in any branch, and which has variable characteristics.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a matched hollow wave guide junction which can be quickly and easily modified to por form a plurality of functions.

It is also an object of this invention to pro' vide a matched hollow wave guide junction which can be used to vary the polarization of the radiofrequency energy transmitted by the junction.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a matched hollow wave guide junction which can beuse'd as a variable directional coupler, or as avariable power divider.

It is further an object of this invention to provide a matched hollow wave guide junction whicncan be used as a magic 'I" wave guide bridge.

A better understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view of an embodiment of themventionshowing asymmetrical junction of four paralle1 connected rectangular wave guide sections with one circular section and the three element plunger used for matching the junction;

Fig. 2is a cross section through the junction showing the matching plunger in place;

Figs; 3A and 3B are schematic plan views illustrati'ng the manner in which the transmitted power may be divided in the junction;

Fig. 4 is a schematic plan View illustrating the manner in which the polarization of the energy wave in the circular wave guide branch of the junctionimay be varied;

Fig. 5 is a view of the junction with a special plungerinserted inthe circular branch to rotate the plane of polarization of the reflected wave in the circular branch and so vary the division of power between two rectangular branches of the junction;

Fig. 6 is a view of one form of the special plunger shown in Fig. 5';

Fig. 7 is a set of vector diagrams showing the phase relationships of the energy waves in the rectangular branches of the junction when the specie-1 plunger of Fig. 5 is in use; and,

Fig.- 8 is a sketch of the junction showing the manner in which it may be used as a magic '1 wave guide bridge.

In the following discussion it is to be sincer stood that the dimensions or the wave guides in the junction are so chosen that the rectangu lar branches will support radiation only iii the 'IEor mode, and the circular branch will support radiation only in the TEumode. This can be done since the chosen modes are the dominant modes for the specified types of wave guide,- and so have longer cut-off wave lengths than any otherino'de which ma be excited in such wave uides. In the TEoi mode tne rectangular Wave guide, all components of the electric field lie in a plane transverse to the direction of ropagation and there are no naieperiod variations in the density of the electric field across the narrower dimension of the wave guide; and there is one half-period variation inthe density ofthe electric field across the wider dimension of the wave guide. In theTEii mode of the circular wave guide, all components of the electric field lie in a plane transverse to the direction of propagation, there being one full-period vari ation of the radialcomponent of the electric field along the angular direction, and one half-period variation in the angular component of the sled tri'c field along the radial direction.

In reference to Fig.- 1', the four sections of rec tangular wave guide [-3, l4, l5 and iii are parallel connected and symmetrically joined to the section of circular wave guide H. The axes of the five wave guide hranches' meet a common point and are mutually perpendicular. This junction will have four planes of symmetry. As a consequence or the symmetr characteristics, three independent variables will be sufficient to adjust the impedances of the junction to pro- Vide a matched 1oad for radiation incident iii any branch of the junction. When the junction is so matched, each branch se'e's at the junction its characteristic impedance if each of the other branches is terminated in its characteristic impedance. There will then be no undesirable re-' fiections of energy at the junction. The three needed variables for matching the junction are supplied by the positions of the three elements I0, I I, and I2 of the triple tuning plunger shown inserted in the circular wave guide branch in Fig. 2. To match the junction, elements I and II are first adjusted so that there will be no reflection of energy at the junction when radiation is incident at the open end of the circular branch. Then, keeping I0 and II fixed, the position of element I2 of the triple plunger is adjusted to produce an approximate match at the junction for energy incident in any of the rectangular wave guide branches. Then, keeping I2 fixed, I0 and II are again adjusted and the whole process is repeated several times until a satisfactory match is obtained. When the junction has been properly matched by this procedure, the transmitted power will be divided as shown in Figs. 3A and 33. Referring to Fig. 3A, if an amount of power, say P, in the TEni mode is incident in rectangular branch I3, as shown, the two orthogonal branches I4 and I6 will be excited equally and in phase in the TEIll mode,

and each with power equal to P/4. Circular branch I? will be excited in the TEn mode with power equal to P/2. The phase symmetry of the outgoing waves in branches I4 and I6 are shown by the positive signs in Fig. 3A. The plane of polarization of the TE11 mode in circular branch I1 is indicated by arrow 33 in the circle. It should be remembered that the dimensions of the junction are such that the rectangular and circular branches will support only the TEm mode and the TE11 mode, respectively.

Referring to Fig. 3B, if an amount of power P is incident at the open end of circular branch II in the polarization shown by arrow 34, it will excite rectangular branches l3 and I5 equally but out of phase and the power in each will be P/2. If the polarization of the rediation incident in circular guide I'I were rotated by 90, rectangular branches I4 and I6 would be excited instead of branches I3 and I5. The opposite phases of the outgoing waves in the rectangular branches are indicated by the positive and negative signs in Fig. 3B.

Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating the manner of operation of the junction in one of its applications. Reflecting plungers I8 and I9 are inserted into a pair of opposite rectangular branches, say I4 and I6, in such a manner that their distances from the common junction point differ by one-quarter wave length. If power P is incident in branch I3 of the junction, branches I4, IB and II will be excited as previously described with reference to Fig. 3A. One-half of the incident power will pass up circular branch II with a polarization shown by arrow 20., The remaining half of the power will divide equally between rectangular branches I4 and I6 exciting them in phase. Upon reflection from plungers I8 and I9, this energy will excite circular branch II in a polarization in space quadrature with arrow 2 This will occur since the positions of plungers I8 and I9 are such that the total paths traveled by the energy in branches I4 and IE will differ by onehalf wave length. Then, the reflected energy from branch I4 will arrive at the common junction point in opposite phase from the reflected energy in branch I6. With the plungers placed as shown in Fig. 4, the reflected radiation from branch IE will lag the radiation from branch The time phase relationship between the two space polarizations excited in circular wave guide II as described above will be determined by the distance from the junction to plungers I8 and I9. As the distance X in Fig. 4 is varied, the phase of one polarization in the circular wave guide changes with respect to the phase of the other. There will be a certain distance X which will cause this phase difference between the two space polarizations of the E vector to be For this condition, the resultant wave excited in circular branch I! will be circularly polarized. In the manner described, the invention, with plungers I8 and I9 properly positioned, can be caused to furnish all of the power incident in one of the rectangular branches as the TEii mode in the cylindrical wave guide with a variable polarization of the E vector. In particular, all of the energy so incident can be transmitted as circularly polarized TE u radiation in the cylindrical wave guide. In such a case, power fedv in by the opposite rectangular guide emerges from the round guide rotating in the opposite direction.

Another application of the invention is that of a variable directional coupler or power divider. With reference to Fig. 5, the upper end of circular wave guide branch I1 is fitted with a special plunger 2|. The function of plunger 2| is to reflect the energy coming up circular branch I? and simultaneously to rotate the plane of po-- larization by 90. The construction of plunger 2| will be considered later with reference toFig. 6. With plunger 2| in place, a power P incident in say branch I3, will excite the two orthogonal branches I4 and I6 equally and in phase, each being supplied with power P/4 as described with reference to Fig. 3A. One-half of the power P will be furnished to circular branch I1, and this energy will be reflected by plunger 2| with its plane of polarization rotated by 90. This reflected energy will then have the proper polarization to excite rectangular branches I4 and I6 equally and out of phase as shown by Fig. 33. For further clarification, reference is made to Fig. '7 which is a set of vector diagrams showing the time phase relationships of the radiation in the three rectangular branches I3, I4 andIB. In Fig. 7, line 22 represents the wave incident in branch I3, its length indicating the amplitude of the wave, and its angular position the phase of the wave. Lines 23 and 24 represent the waves excited directly in rectangular branches I4 and I6 respectively, the length and angular positions of the lines indicating the amplitude and phase of each. As was seen with respect to Fig. 3A, all three vectors have the same angular position since the three waves are in phase. Also, the waves in rectangular branches I4 and I6 have each one-half the amplitude of the wave incident in branch I3. Since the power in a wave is proportional to the square of the amplitude, the power so excited in each of branches I4 and I6 will be one-quarter of the power incident in branch I3. Lines 25 and 26 of Fig. 7 represent the wavesexcited in branches I4 and I6, respec-, tively, by the energy reflected from plunger 'ZI, the amplitude and phase being indicated by the length and angular position of the lines. Since this reflected energy will excite branches I4 and I6 out of phase, lines 25 and 26 are drawn with difference in angular position. Also, onehalf power will be supplied to each of the rectangular branches; and, since the reflected wave has one-half of the power orig which will pass down each of rectangular branches I4 and I6 will be the vector sum of the two waves excitedineach branch in the fashion describedabove." The time phase andampl-itude ofthe resultant wave in "branch I4 canbe represented on Fig. 7 by theline 27 which is thevectorsum of linesfZB and 25. The time phase and amplitude of the resultant wave in branch I6 is similarlyjrepresented on Fig. 7 by line 28. It canbe seenthatlines 25and 26 can be rotated through 360 on the phasediagram of Fig. 7 by adjusting the position of plunger 2! in branch I'I through one-half wave length. By so doing, the division of the transmitted power between branches I 4 and I6 can be varied continuously from acondition where all of the power incident in branch or I5 is transmitted by branch I 4 and none by branch IE, to a condition where all of the power is transmittedby branch-I6 and none by branch I4. The first of the above conditions corresponds to the situation on Fig. 7 where line 25 lies along line 23 and line 26 lies in a direction directly opposite to that of line 24. In the second condition, lines 24 and 26 have the same angular position and lines 23 and 25 are opposing. It can be seen that if energy were incident in rectangular branch I4, with plunger 2I properly positioned, no energy will be transmitted by branch I'G, but all of the power will be divided in any desired ratio between branches I3 and I5. One application of the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 5 can be as a variable power divider feeding two loads from a single source with the power divided between the two loads in any desired ratio.

In the above description, it was noted that for radiation incident in branch I3, any desired percentage could be transmitted by branch I6, while none of the return radiation incident in branch I4 would be transmitted by branch IS. The invention will thus serve as a directional coupler, or wave selector, variable in its attenuation. Further, since any part of the return energy incident in branch I4 can be transmitted by branch I5 the invention will serve as a two-way directional coupler.

Due to the symmetry of the junction, the above analysis would apply for radiation incident in any of the four rectangular branches, the power being divided between the two orthogona branches.

The function of plunger 2I has been described in the above discussion. Fig. 6 is a sketch of one embodiment of plunger 2 I. In Fig. 6, the plunger is provided with two dielectric vanes 29 and 30 which are perpendicular to one another, and vane 29 is one-quarter wave length longer than vane 30'. The plunger is oriented in circular wave guide branch I! so that each of these vanes make an angle of 45 with the electric field in branch I I. Under these circumstances, dielectric vanes 25 and 30 will set up electric fields of equal amplitude but with a space orientation of branches Due to the halfwave length path diiierence for these two components (one-quarter wave length going, and one-quarter wave length re turning), the polarization of the reflected wave in circular branch Il will be rotated 90 with respect to the polarization of incoming wave. The direction of this rotation of the polarization can be reversed by a'90 rotation of plunger 2| in branch I'I.

Stillanother application ofthe invention can be outlined with reference to Fig; 8. This is a special case of the wave guide junction and plunger 2| shown in Fig. 5. Plunger 2 Us inserted in circular branch I! to such a point that the "vactors represented by lines 25 and 26 in Fig. 7 will be at right angles to the vectors represented by lines 23 and 24. With these conditions satis fied, rectangular branches I4 and I6 will be excited equally and 90 out of phase by radiation incident in branch I3 and branch I5 will not be excited. Two reference planes through branches I4 and I6 are indicated on Fig. 3 by lines 3i and 32. Reference planes 3I and '32 are sochosen as: to differ in their distance from the common junction pointby one-quarter wave length. 'At' reference planes 3| and 32, radiation incident in rectangular branch I3 will excite branches and I6 equally and in phase, with no radiation appearing in branch I5. The phase "symmetry is shownin Fig. 8 by positive signs in branches I4 and It, the incident power being designated by P as before.

I However, for the same reference planes and for the same orientation of plunger 2 I, radiation inci-' dent at rectangular branch I5 will excite branches I4 and I6 equally, but out of phase with no radiation appearing in branch I3. This phase opposition is indicated on Fig. 8 by positive and negative signs. This 180 phase difference will occur because the plane of polarization in circular branch I1, when it is excited by branch I5, will be 180 out of phase with the polarization when circular branch I! is excited by radiation from branch I3. Further, if branches M and I6 are excited equally and in phase at reference planes 3| and 32, all of this radiation will. appear in branch I3 with none in branch I5, whereas if they are excited equally and out of phase at planes 3I and 32, all of the radiation will appear in branch I5 with none in branch I 3*. Under these conditions, the Wave guide junction in combination with plunger 2I properly positioned and oriented will perform the functions of the magic I wave guide bridge as disclosed and claimed in the co-pending application of Robert H. Dicke (R. L 53-69(1)), Serial No. 581,695, filed March 8, 1 45.

A magic T is a wave guide junction fed by four transmission lines such that power fed in any one of the transmission lines splits equally between two of the other lines. There is neither reflected power nor coupling to the remaining fourth transmission line.

While certain applications of the invention have herein been described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other applications and modifications are possible. The scope of the invention is limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hollow wave guide junction comprising a main circular wave guide branch, four rectangular wave guide branches, said rectangular branches being parallel connected and symmetrically joined with said circular branch, the axes of the five said branches meeting in a common point and being mutually perpendicular, and three concentric plungers .closing guide branch, said plungers being independently movable for establishing a characteristic impedance termination for each of said wave guide branches at their junction.

2. The combination of claim 1 with movable reflecting plungers in an opposing pair of said rectangular wave guide branches, said plungers differing in distance from the common junction point by one-quarter wave length, said circular branch and said opposing pair of rectangular branches having primary energy waves excited by radiation incident in one of the said orthogonal rectangular branches, said plungers reflecting said primary energy waves in said opposing pair of rectangular branches, said reflected energy waves exciting in said circular branch a secondary wave having a polarization in space quadrature and a different time phase with respect to said primary energy wave in said circular branch, said time phase of said secondary wave being variable bymotion of said plungers resulting in a variable polarization of the resultant wave transmitted by said circular wave guide.

3. The combination of claim 1 with movable reflecting plungers in an opposing pair of said rectangular wave guide branches, said plunger differing in distance from the common junction point by one-quarter wave length, said circular branch and said opposing pair of rectangular branches having primary energy waves excited by radiation incident in one of said orthogonal rectangular branches, said plungers reflecting one end of said circular wave branch, said primary and secondary waves resulting in a circular polarization of the radiation transmitted by said circular branch.

4. A hollow wave guide junction comprising two cross arms of rectangular wave guides intersecting at right angles, a circular wave guide coupled at right angle to the space common to the intersection, a three element independently adjustableplunger included within said intersection to adjust the impedances of said junction whereby a matched load is provided for radiation incident in any arm of said junction, and movable reflect ing plungers in an opposing pair of said rectangular wave guide arms whereby a wave incident to an open rectangular wave guide arm is propagated as a variably polarized wave in said circular wave guide arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,407,318 Mieher Sept. 10, 1946' 2,410,838 Ring Nov. 12, 1946 2,410,840 Samuel Nov. 12, 1946 2, 4 ,396 Tynell July 27, 1948 waves in said opposing pairout of time phase with re- 

